This study of Handel's English church music covers well-known works such as 'Zadok the Priest', but also introduces his Chapel Royal music, the result of a close but changing relationship with Britain's Hanoverian royal family. The story of the political background is complemented by an investigation of the circumstances of Handel's performances.
The first investigation into the choral foundation of the Chapel Royal, Dublin Castle. The Chapel Royal, Dublin Castle, was the place of worship of the British monarch's representative in Ireland from 1814 until the inception of the Irish Free State in 1922. It was founded and maintained by the joint efforts of church and state, and thus its history provides valuable insights into how the relationship between religion and politics shaped Irish society and identity. The Dublin Chapel was established in imitation of the Chapel Royal of St James's Palace, London, and was served by a staff of clergy and musicians. Its musical foundation was a formal and independent entity, with its own personnel and performance traditions. Its distinctive repertoire included music from the English and Irish cathedral traditions, as well as works written by composers associated directly with the Chapel. This study investigates the Chapel's constitution, liturgy and music through an examination of previously unexplored primary material. Discussion of the circumstances of the Chapel's founding and its governance structures situates the institution in the context of the church-state relationship that existed following the Union of 1800. Further, by exploring architecture, churchmanship and musical style, O'Shea demonstrates how the Chapel was part of a wider aesthetic and liturgical tradition. The choral foundation is brought to life with accounts of the Chapel's clergy, organists, boy choristers and gentleman singers, which provide insights into Dublin's social history during a period of significant change. This book reflects on the Dublin Chapel Royal's legacy a century after its closure and offers a new perspective into a forgotten corner of Irish cultural, religious and political history.
Handel was a defining figure of the late Baroque era, perhaps best known for bringing the oratorio form to an English-speaking audience. This insightful study brings to life the glory of his artistry, his elusive personality and the flavour of his time.
The Apollo Academy, a musical club founded in 1731 by Maurice Greene and his friend Michael Christian Festing, was the performance location of various oratorios, odes and masques produced by composers in Greene's circle of friends, colleagues and pupils. Many of the works performed both in and outside the academy meetings are based on subjects such as Jephtha, Deborah and the choice of Hercules which were well known in eighteenth-century England and also attracted the attention of Handel. This long-overdue study explores these works in terms of their intellectual contexts (political, religious, social and cultural), comparing them to Handel's compositions on the same or similar subjects. Additionally, detailed source information and musical analysis of the works is included as well as a discussion of the competition between Handel and his English contemporaries in order to provide a fuller picture of the diverse musical and cultural life in London during the first half of the eighteenth century.
Baroque composer George Frideric Handel easily ranks among the world's greatest composers. The first edition of this research guide on Handel appeared in 1988; since that time a great deal of scholarly work has been published on Handel and related areas, including the discovery of a hitherto unknown work. New general resources such as the New Grove Dictionary of Opera (1992), electronic resources such as the RISM libretto catalogue online, and the study of Handel's continuing popularity as evidenced by the new Handel House Museum in London and Handel practice around the world (e.g., Messiah and millennium celebrations in Tonga, singalong Messiahs etc.) are incorporated into this revised edition of the Handel guide.
Articles on English music, from the medieval period to the present day, centred on four of the major areas of scholarly enquiry. The major themes of the essays in this collection reflect the work of the distinguished scholar John Caldwell, professor of music at Oxford University and a composer in his own right. There is a strong focus on early music, with contributions considering the medieval carol, sources for seventeenth- and eighteenth-century harpsichord music, and the transmission of fifteenth-century English music to the Continent; but they range right up to the twentieth century, with an examination of music in Oxford. All are concerned in one way or another with themes which recur in Professor Caldwell's scholarship: sources; style; performance; and historiography. Contributors: SALLY HARPER, DAVID HILEY, EMMA HORNBY, HARRY JOHNSTONE, MARGARET BENT, DAVID MAW, MATTHIAS RANGE, REINHARD STROHM, PETER WRIGHT, MAGNUS WILLIAMSON, JOHN HARPER, SIMON MCVEIGH, CHRISTOPHER PAGE, OWEN REES, SUSAN WOLLENBERG, JOHN ARTHUR SMITH, BENNETT ZON, DAVID MAW. To subscribe to the Tabula Gratulatoria for this volume, CLICK HERE
The Peace of Utrecht (1713), which brought an end to the War of the Spanish Succession, was a milestone in global history. Performances of Peace aims to rethink the significance of the Peace of Utrecht by exploring the nexus between culture and politics. For too long, cultural and political historians have studied early modern international relations in isolation. By studying the political as well as the cultural aspects of this peace (and its concomitant paradoxes) from a broader perspective, this volume aims to shed new light on the relation between diplomacy and performative culture in the public sphere. Contributors are: Samia Al-Shayban, Lucien Bély, Renger E. de Bruin, Suzan van Dijk, Heinz Duchhardt, Julie Farguson, Linda Frey, Marsha Frey, Willem Frijhoff, Henriette Goldwyn, Cornelis van der Haven, Clare Jackson, Lotte Jensen, Phil McCluskey, Jane O. Newman, Aaron Alejandro Olivas, David Onnekink. This book is available in Open Access.
This anthology represents scholarly literature devoted to Handel over the last few decades, and contains different kinds of studies of the composer's biography, operatic career, singers, librettists, and his relationship with the music of other composers. Case studies range from recent research that transforms our knowledge of large-scale English works to an interdisciplinary exploration of an individual opera aria. Designed to bring easy and convenient access to students, performers and music lovers, the wide-ranging articles are selected by David Vickers (co-editor of the recent Cambridge Handel Encyclopedia) from diverse sources - not only familiar important journals, but also specialist yearbooks, festschrifts, not easily accessible newsletters, conference proceedings and exhibition catalogues. Many of these represent an up-to-date understanding of modern Handel studies, deal with fascinating biographical issues (such as the composer's art collection, his chronic health problems, and the nature of popular anecdotal evidence), and fill gaps in the mainstream Handelian literature.
Coronations are the grandest of all state occasions. This is the first comprehensive in-depth study of the music that was performed at British coronations from 1603 to the present, encompassing the sixteen coronations that have taken place in Westminster Abbey and the last two Scottish coronations. Range describes how music played a crucial role at the coronations and how the practical requirements of the ceremonial proceedings affected its structure and performance. The programme of music at each coronation is reconstructed, accompanied by a wealth of transcriptions of newly discovered primary source material, revealing findings that lead to fresh conclusions about performance practices. The coronation ceremonies are placed in their historical context, including the political background and the concept of invented traditions. The study is an invaluable resource not only for musicologists and historians, but also for performers, providing a fascinating insight into the greatest of all Royal events.
